FC Pune City travels to the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata to face the defending champions ATK in their second match of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 on Sunday. Coming off the back of a 3-2 defeat against Delhi Dynamos FC, the Stallions will look for their first points of the season to get their campaign rolling.

Speaking to the media at the pre-match press conference, Pune’s head coach Ranko Popovic started off by underlining the importance of their impending fixture. “We played the game against Delhi to win the three points, and we’ll try to do the same here (against ATK),” he said. “But we know it will not be easy. I think it’s good to play this game in this condition as it must be a big motivation for both the teams. Of course, we’ll do everything to try and get the three points, but we will see what happens tomorrow.”

The Serbian also acknowledged the fact that ATK, who will be playing in front of their passionate fans, will enter the match with an advantage. “You can call them (ATK) favourites because they have a big support from the fans but at this moment of the season, nobody are favourites. So, it will be easy for us to play this game since they are the favourites. We can talk all we want, but tomorrow is the match, tomorrow is the moment of truth. I hope we will be good enough to make the job difficult for Kolkata and easy for us,” he explained.

Regarding the last match where they were edged out by Delhi, he admitted to the mistakes committed, though he did not hold any particular player responsible for the same. “As a team, we have to work both defensively and offensively. Obviously, mistakes are individual. This is not something from the tactics and happens to the best. We must try to play together until the end. In my team, I don’t like to point the finger at anyone. I am responsible for the guys and they are responsible to me. Lose or win like a team, this is what we want to do,” he replied.

“Some players have a long experience of playing here. We are always talking about everything. But this year is different from last year. Even I was a player 20 years ago, but we live in the moment. What was yesterday was yesterday. To make tomorrow good, we have to do the right things at this moment. I’m happy to have guys like Marcelinho, (Emiliano) Alfaro and Jewel Raja. We have to do things together and help each other,” he added.

Before signing off, Popovic shared his insights on India’s present football scene. “In India, there are a lot of talented players. Some of them miss a little something. They need to learn how to be more competitive and deal with pressure when they play football. The potential is there, and I hope very soon India can be up in the FIFA rankings,” he concluded.